firewall capabilities

[David.Cornely at tfn.com (Cornely, David)]

Hello,
	I just subscribed to the mailing list and am learning Linux as I go.
So, I figured I'd post my first message:

I've got an issue here at work and I wonder (and hope) that maybe Linux
could be the answer.

We're using Veritas' Netbackup and have come across a glaring bug.  The
software will NOT allow you to specify a port for the return packets during
a backup.  This works if you don't have to go through a firewall but when
you do it becomes necessary to open up ports 512-1024 on the firewall
because Netbackup picks a return port at random.

I've started to investigate "stateful packet inspection" as a possible
solution within the firewall but after speaking with the firewall admin
here, he's not sure we can do it.  My question:  Can Linux do this and if so
can it be made to specify ports for the return packets based on the initial
packets, which are assignable with Netbackup? 
Thanks for any help.

-Dave
__________________________________
David Cornely
UNIX Systems Administrator, Operations
Thomson Financial
617.856.1205
david.cornely at tfn.com


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